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no, not on meds .. my overall numbers so far are fine .. but i go to the dr on friday so things could have changed, but the tiredness has been going on for a year or so ...

but i do not have the energy i did two years ago ... just wondering is there something i can do to improve this ... in addition to being tired, it affects my concentration which make the second 1/2 of my work day very difficult ...

I will tell you that, before I started meds, I found I was very tired all the time. I never got any opportunistic infections or got sick, but I was conking out at 9:00 every night. That changed as soon as I started meds. So it may just be the virus wearing you down. As soon as my viral load got down, I felt much better...

I found myself saying the same thing... I became quite surly because I was SO SO SO tired all the time. I enrolled in a study for Nuvigil/Provigil specifically targeted at HIV+ patients, who were or weren't taking antiretroviral medicines. It was like night and day, and I finally felt like I was alive again.

One possible reason for fatigue during HIV infection is that, even if one's numbers stay good, there remains a great deal of inflammation in the body. It's hard work to keep recruiting (and building) cells to battle the little monster; this among other factors leads to major, periodic (or constant) inflammation of the immune system and, according to some research, even in mucosal membranes (especially in the digestive system).

When I was having this problem, I experienced some improvement from:* addressing dietary issues, making sure to limit heavy, fatty foods and instead sticking to veggies and chicken/fish.* yoga, as noted by Fondoo.* a daily nap (but it was common for this to ruin an evening, too).

I experienced significant improvement from Nuvigil/Provigil and it's probably the best thing I can recommend, except for making the choice to start medication "early." That transformed my life and I feel "normal" again - and I felt "normal" within a week or two of starting.

I wish I had started earlier - I was tired so much from 2008 through mid-2009, and I lost so much of my life to the exhaustion and the frequent illnesses (not opportunistic infections, but stuff on the scale of strep, flu, etc.) Luckily I have a doctor who isn't afraid to prescribe the medicine I want, rather than simply insisting on Atripla like a number of my friends' doctors. When you see your doc, consider starting the medicine necessary to put HIV in its place - I thought of it not as giving in, but as taking control.

There still can be side effects, though I haven't experienced any, so that's something to consider, of course. But chances are, ARVs would enhance your quality of life.

I have been taking co-enzyme Q10 to combat my chronic tiredness, with great effect. I take 100mg with lunch and 100mg with dinner. I saw an improvement in my energy levels after the first day. It's something to try, although it's one of the more expensive supplements.

Treatment is a big bullet to fire at fatigue, for you do have a raging viral infection whatever your numbers say. It was the most noticeable benefit, like 5 days for me on starting, the ebbing of constant tiredness. This is reason enough to start combo.

This said, HIV meds themselves, can cause fatigue, which needs to be borne in mind.

I commend the recommendations of other posters, especially on looking at diet, exercise and nutrition. Meds is not the whole story. The comment from carpediem98 contains much wisdom, especially the bit about you being in control.

I am tired of being tired too but recently have been feeling a bit better. Stress at work has eased up so that helps. So to keep me going I use 2 tubes of Testim a day and quit a bit of coffee and I make sure to get 8 hours sleep a night minimum. I do a few push up and stretching exercise a few times a week and that has helped too. check yourself for depression cause that can make you tired too. There are abunch of factors that can be causing fatigue.

Thank you for the information .. not having energy is a first for me since i have ADHD and am used to having too much energy rather than not enough ....

I used to run marathons and stopped due to an injury and got off track ... i was just starting to train again then found out I have HIV and haven't started training again so I'm definitely not in the shape I used to be ...

I really want to start running again and am hoping that committed exercise and diet will help with the fatigue ....

oh .. and I LOVE the attitude of meds as taking control rather than being the victim ... nice way to look at this ... thank you for that ... it's been less than two years form me and i'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this ...

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Hi,I felt the same some months ago. Felt tired all the time and not only in the afternoons. My wife began to take ganoderma capsules for her high blood pressure. My numbers were also not very good, neither blood sugar level nor cholesterol, so I tried this mushroom as well, although being very sceptical about the result. After 4 weeks I had suddenly this "wow" feeling. I felt myself much better, felt a lot of extra energy. After 2 months my results got also much better, cholesterol 30% down, sugar 50%, blood pressure 10-15%. I have been taking the capsules for more than 4 months now and feel great since then.andy

well, i have found recently that part of the reason i've been sooo tired is that i have an "energy vampire" in my life who i've taken steps to neutralize ... i have seen a big change in my energy levels so that is good ...

amazing ... just proof that not only hiv willl drain you of life force ...

sorry, i thought everyone was familiar with the term ... energy vampires are people who just suck the life out of you ... they are people who, when they leave your presence, you feel drained or depleted ... basicaly, they just steal your energy ... sometimes they know they do it and other times they don't know it ...

it could be someone who is just needy or depressed or insecure or ... but for whatever reason, they take way more than they give

turns out i have one who has been depleting me ... since taking steps to neutralize in the last week or so i've seen my energy levels go up and my ability to focus improve ...

sadly, i tend to attract these people since, according to my friends, i sparkle or radiate life and energy .. i'm kinda an all you can eat buffet for them ... since contractin HIV the "all you can eat' part isn't really true anymore since so much of my energy goes into fighting HIV ...

All of the responses have been on point --- I especially like the energy monster. I just shared with a friend of mine yesterday that I had gotten 5 phone calls and 2 visits and each person wanted something - a ride, a loan, etc. ---- I finally cut the phone off and got some much needed and enjoyable me time. I got a lot accomplished and woke up today feeling refreshed. Practiced the same routine today and am feeling much better. With the condition we have, we need to make sure that we stay close to positive energy.

Hiv doing its thing in the body does and will make you extremely tired.Starting on meds will halt most and nearly all the hiv activity and thusallow your body and immune system to recover. That will address fatigue.

But lets be honest... the meds will most likely also make you tired. After all, they arevery powerful drugs. But not as tired or bad as you might feel now with active hivdestroying your immune system hour by hour on a daily basis.Your immune system will from now on always be fragile due to damagesfrom hiv. Some people recover their immune system to very normal ranges, some have a much harder time gaining their immune system back, even though they are testing undetectable on hiv meds.

It just depends on the person. Now and forever on, treat yourself with white gloves and put your health needs first, before you desire to burn the candle at both ends. On meds, you should start to feel alot better soon, if all goes well as to getting use to the new meds. We're not in Kansas anymore when it comes to the good ole days.Take care.. And see what your doc says. Your latest labs show.

Thanks for finally saying this! I have been on meds for 23 years and feel constantly tired, with rare exceptions. It used to frustrate my partner that I would suddenly start doing housework at 9pm and I told him I had to do it while I felt up to it.

Of course, I lost him 18 months ago and now I'm also dealing with depression, which also sucks the life out of you. I'm still hanging on, going to therapy, working it out. But it often seems that just getting through a day takes more energy than I have.

KK

Logged

I distrust morning people largely because I suspect them of getting together one morning and setting up the rules of civilization while the rest of us slept.

Just wanted to add that I was having energy and fatigue (and lots of muscle and joint pain) issues so frequently I thought I would have to quit work...again! But, my doc did some tests and discovered that my vitamins B 12 and D were almost non-existent. It's important to note that I live in Oregon where it is only sunny about 3 months of the year! After taking vitamin supplements, my pain has decreased while my energy level has increased. I'm not feeling as fatigued, either. I take Kaletra and Truvada for HIV and Prozac for depression.

It is so true that "psychic vampires" can suck the life out of you. Everyone should look around them and determine if they are being affected by negative energy, from even someone they love.

Hiv doing its thing in the body does and will make you extremely tired.Starting on meds will halt most and nearly all the hiv activity and thusallow your body and immune system to recover. That will address fatigue.

But lets be honest... the meds will most likely also make you tired. After all, they arevery powerful drugs. But not as tired or bad as you might feel now with active hivdestroying your immune system hour by hour on a daily basis.Your immune system will from now on always be fragile due to damagesfrom hiv. Some people recover their immune system to very normal ranges, some have a much harder time gaining their immune system back, even though they are testing undetectable on hiv meds.

It just depends on the person. Now and forever on, treat yourself with white gloves and put your health needs first, before you desire to burn the candle at both ends. On meds, you should start to feel alot better soon, if all goes well as to getting use to the new meds. We're not in Kansas anymore when it comes to the good ole days.Take care.. And see what your doc says. Your latest labs show.

Thanks ... I have made another revelation .. My doctor may be considered one of the top HIV docs in the south but he is full of crap .. I've started looking for a new dr ... the lack of information and misinformation he and his office provided me when i first went to him after I found out I was poz has contributed to my fatigue ... basically, he scared me into stopping exercise ... I just decided he's full of shit and started exercising again a week ago ... between that and dealing with the psychic vampires in my life i've seen a huge increase in my energy levels

No doubt HIV has contributed to my tiredness, but not everything in my life can be blamed on HIV ... I think that the majority of this is somethign other than HIV ....

ha I like the energy vampire thing. Lately I have been feeling great but I notice every time I drop off my kid to my x-wife my energy level hits bottom. What a strange and fascinating place this universe is. Glad you are feeling better.

I'm usually tired and groggy until I hit the gym at lunchtime. Then I feel MUCH better. Maybe an exercise routine will help you with your tiredness? That and putting up a wall between you and that energy vampire...good luck!

thankfully, i'm not on meds yet .. hope it stays that way for a while ...

another thing i've done is fire my ID dr ... hired a new one today .... go see them next month ... my old one gave me very little advice when i first saw him ... and i know alot about hiv but from the preventative side ... after crossing over to the dark side i needed a totally different type of information about hiv ... all he said was, "don't over do it, take a multivitamin and come see me every three months" ... one of the reasons i stopped exercising was i was too scared i would "over do it" ...

i had started avoiding my dr because i felt emotionally worse after seeign him .. haven't been in 8 months so started exercising and fired the dr today and hired a new one who i very carefully researched ...

to be honest, i think just the act of being pro-active and taking some serious control of my life is contributing to my energy levels increasing ... i just didn't know any better at first

thankfully, i'm not on meds yet .. hope it stays that way for a while ...

another thing i've done is fire my ID dr ... hired a new one today .... go see them next month ... my old one gave me very little advice when i first saw him ... and i know alot about hiv but from the preventative side ... after crossing over to the dark side i needed a totally different type of information about hiv ... all he said was, "don't over do it, take a multivitamin and come see me every three months" ... one of the reasons i stopped exercising was i was too scared i would "over do it" ...

i had started avoiding my dr because i felt emotionally worse after seeign him .. haven't been in 8 months so started exercising and fired the dr today and hired a new one who i very carefully researched ...

to be honest, i think just the act of being pro-active and taking some serious control of my life is contributing to my energy levels increasing ... i just didn't know any better at first

I'd fired my old doctor too. he was no help at all and my new doctoris much better. you have to be proactive in chossosing you docotor also for the negative ones are the worse.

to be honest, i think just the act of being pro-active and taking some serious control of my life is contributing to my energy levels increasing ... i just didn't know any better at first

That is so true, the act of being pro-active is so empowering! I am so attached to my yoga practice for the same reason. So attached I was still practicing with a bad case of MAC and coughing more than breathing lol

That is so true, the act of being pro-active is so empowering! I am so attached to my yoga practice for the same reason. So attached I was still practicing with a bad case of MAC and coughing more than breathing lol